The family, which lives in Pratapgarh’s Laru village, raised an alarm after claiming to have found the girl’s braid lying on the floor.

Multiple incidents of hair-chopping have been reported across states.(Representative image)

A 17-year-old girl’s family in Uttar Pradesh cut off her hair after a relative said the government was giving Rs one lakh compensation to victims of a series of ‘braid chopping’ incidents that have spooked people across several states, police said on Saturday.

The incident was reported from Laru village in Pratapgarh district, more than 150 km from capital Lukcnow.

Police said the family raised an alarm and admitted the “unconscious” girl to a local hospital.

However, police grew suspicious when doctors said she was not in a state of shock as claimed by the family, said AK Singh, the Kunda Kotwali station house officer.

Questioned separately by the police, the family members made contradictory statements and later confessed to have cut off her hair themselves.

Pratapgarh superintendent of police Shagun Gautam said some Punjab-based relatives of the girl told her family about a Rs one lakh compensation.

Pushpa’s family assumed that she could also benefit if they managed to declare her a victim, the SP added.

The raft of mysterious attacks – reported from UP, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi – have created panic in among villagers many of whom believe them to be the work of ghosts.

Since July, more than 50 women have reported waking up to find their braids mysteriously lopped off, sparking intense speculation around the assaults.

The string of unexplained attacks has occurred in largely rural areas, where superstitious beliefs sparks hysteria and allegations of witchcraft.

In Uttar Pradesh, a 65-year-old woman was lynched in Agra on suspicion that she was a witch responsible for the hair cutting.

In many places, parents were keeping children indoors after school.

Some psychiatrists believe the stories may be due to mass hysteria or hallucination. In Delhi, one incident was found to be a prank played on a young girl by her brother.